Business Travel Likely To Triple To $93 Bn By 2030: Report

MUMBAI: With business travel rapidly evolving, India is poised to lead this growth and spending in this category is expected to treble to $93 billion by 2030 from the present levels. 

"India is now a USD 30 billion business travel market and is expected to more than triple to USD 93 billion by 2030," a white paper on 'Business Travel in India Emerging Trends and Opportunities' by FCM Travel Solutions and KPMG released here today.

KPMG India Partner and Head, Transport, Leisure and Sports, Jaideep Ghosh said, despite some recent economic speed bumps, the business travel market remains incredibly robust and dynamic with a number of countries, such as India, China, Germany and Canada, growing at a remarkable rate. 

"The report predicts that India will emerge as a leader in business travel spending over the next decade or so. In fact, when one looks at India, one sees one of the highest growth rates in business travel in the world. If India continues on that trend, in 15-20 years, it will surpass the US as well and be second only to China. In fact, India is where China was close to 15 years back. It is clearly a story that no one is talking about yet, but it bears watching," he added. 

The report is based on business travel booking and expense reporting data from its database of more than 100 corporates and small businesses and 20 users, representing nearly 5 pct of business travel spend in India. 

The report revealed that 13 years from now (by 2030), India will likely to be among the top five in business travel spending. 

Business travel spending in Asia Pacific totalled USD 458 billion in 2015, and is expected to grow at 7.8 pct annually over the next five years, 6.5 pct of this total spend came from India, while China, Japan and South Korea accounted for nearly 90 pct of the remaining spends, it said. 

The report further said, Indian travellers are most likely to be transacting on their smart phones as this region has consistently led the charge with smart phone usage growing at 12 pct from 2014 to 2015.

The report also opined that with nearly 25 pct of mobile phone users in India owning a smart phone or tablet, the use of these devices to manage travel needs 'on the move', including destination research and booking management is expected to increase. 

The mix of sectors that are contributing to this growth is truly diverse with IT, pharmaceuticals, which top the list as two of the fastest-growing sectors followed by natural resources, auto and construction sectors, it added. 

Flight Centre Travel Group - India - Managing Director Rakshit Desai said, "For corporates, managing business travel is becoming increasingly complex, with changing traveller preferences, integration with mobile technology and strategies adopted by travel suppliers." 

According to the paper, he said, in 2015 India ranks as the 10th largest business travel market in the world spending a total of USD 29.6 billion. 

"Moreover, it is projected to be the most robust business travel market in APAC over the next five years and is estimated to grow at 12 pct annually over that period. With its improving economy and rising consumption, it is no surprise then that India will emerge as the next fastest growing market between 2017 and 2020," he pointed out. 

The APAC region continues to be the largest business travel region in the world, comprising 37 pct of global business travel. 

Currently, Asia Pacific owns the largest share of the business travel spend market with 37 pct followed by North America, with 25 pct and Western Europe with 18 pct.

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